Reviews and Comments

From Jerry Edwards :

An enjoyable cartoon with lots of action and gags.
I enjoy one gag of Mickey using a stuffed swordfish against Pete's sword.
The opening scene of the ship sailing on the ocean is especially nicely
animated. The colorized version is nice, especially for giving color to
the ocean.

From Ryan :

This short kind of looks like something out of the Disney
comics. The picture itself looks kind of like a comic. One scene I liked
was where Mickey grabs a swordfish and uses that to fight Pete with. Pretty
good short with lots of fun gags and action.

From Austin Long :

The animation is outstanding for its time. The whole
pirate theme suits Pete very well, and the idea of Mickey and Minnie trying
to escape makes this very thrilling experience among Disney shorts. Can't
miss; 4 and a half stars.

From Bill I. :

Although this was a Mickey saves Minnie from Pete short,
it was well animated and contained lots of great gags. I enjoyed the opening
scene of the ship and the "identical" crew cleaning up. Pete somehow has
shanghaied Mickey and Minnie and when he makes advances to Minnie tied up
on a pole, Mickey escapes and the fight is on! Lots of action; the sword
fight between Pete and Mickey was very well animated; the look on Mickey's
face when his swordfish goes limp was great. But in the end, Mickey wins,
as it should be and he gets a nice kiss from Minnie in the end.

From Maxwell Morton "Max" Goudiss :

A short excerpt from this short is used in the "Walt Disney Presents" episode "The Goofy Success Story".

From Ryan Kilpatrick at The Disney Film Project :

Shanghaied is a good old fashioned
adventure story, with Mickey Mouse playing the role of the swashbuckler.
If you recall, in his first adventures, this was Mickey’s style, such as
in Gallopin’ Gaucho, and he returns to it here, as an adventurer on the high seas.

This is the first Disney short I can remember that begins in media res, or in the middle of things. It’s a popular storytelling device today, beginning the action of a TV show or movie and explaining how we got there along the way. In this short, we begin with Mickey and Minnie as Pete’s captives on a pirate ship, without explanation of how they got there.

This is a significant change for Disney. In all of the shorts until this one, lots of time and effort has been spent on exposition. Think about it. We often get to see Mickey in his routine or everyday life at the beginning of a short, or we see him walking up to the door of Minnie’s house or other locations. This is the first time we’re thrown in the deep end of the pool and told to keep going.

It works, though, as we are instantly aware that Pete is bad news and he wants to do harm to Mickey and Minnie. Mickey’s escape features some great gags, such as Pete being knocked over and having a rolling chair’s bottom attached to his peg leg. That makes for some funny moments when Mickey and Pete are swordfighting.

Seeing Mickey as the swordfighter is a great treat. We see the main mouse at the peak of his powers. It’s fun to see Mickey in charge of the situation, even when his swordfish falls apart and he is unable to continue the swordfight.

The action continues out on the deck of the ship, where a contingent of identical pirates swarm after Mickey and Minnie. Much like the stable boys in
The Steeple Chase, these pirates are the generic bad guys that will later become the Beagle Boys of the Duck comics and cartoons. It’s interesting to see them used here first.

Mickey forces the pirates back with a variety of gags, including launching pots out of a cannon that stick on their heads and heaving a stove at them that the pirates get stuck in. The final gag is reminiscent of
Jungle Rhythm, with Mickey launching a harpoon that corrals all the pirates and Pete, sticking them in an arc over the ocean.

This is one of my favorites so far, just because it is so different than everything else. Starting the action when things are well underway is a good device, and the scenes of the swordfight are hilarious, because of Pete’s roller wheel leg.
Shanghaied is an example of Mickey the hero at his peak, and that makes it a great short.

From Anonymous :

Not one of my favorites---notice Mickey doesn't speak a single word? I always thought they did that so they didn't have to worry about dubbing for foreign markets.

From Mac :

Yep this one jumps right in – I guess the title
Shanghaied is all the explanation we need. It's almost as if this is the second half of a longer Mickey cartoon, luckily it's the best part - the part with all the action! However, seeing how good adventurer Mickey is in animated action, it does make me wish that Walt had experimented with double and triple length cartoons for Mickey in order to bring more adventure stories to life.

This one also features one of Mickey and Minnie's best on screen kisses – Mickey using the wheel of the ship to pull Minnie closer!